When an engineer is designing a product, the engineer may select from an almost limitless number of component options. So, the engineer must constantly evaluate different component options in the course of building a product and take into consideration the tradeoffs inherent with selection of each option. For example, the engineer may consider whether the part breaks easily, costs too much, affects the balance of the product, or fits in with a model of the product.
Analytical information regarding components is often used to evaluate the component. The information for a component is typically conveyed with the use of charts or tables. The charts and tables may adequately convey the data for the components used in the product but do not provide a sufficiently intuitive visual representation of how the data is distributed across the overall product. For example, if a bicycle is made of fifty components, a tabular display with actual weights for each component, a comparison to target weights for each component, and a listing of part names within the table which are underweight and overweight may be displayed to provide a view of the parts that need attention.
However, the charts and tables give no indication of where the weight may be skewed in relation to the whole product. One must guess at the overall impact on the product for using particular parts from the attributes captured in data in tables or charts. In particular, the problem is that the data is just numbers and it is impossible to tell from the data on each individual part in pie charts and tables if the overall product is heavier toward back or front until built. A user may have to actually scan a list of individual parts and guess at an imbalance in a constructed product in order to actually grasp the relative seriousness of each part's weight deviation. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a technique for improved presentation of product data.